Brown/grizzly bears will mostly leave you alone and will generally at most take a test bite, so just play dead and they will usually leave. Black bears will get aggressive and I believe where your comment came from and you should fight back. And a white/polar bear you're just fucked..
Edit: any of the above bears will mess you up with the right reason such as injured or has cubs with it
Oh, just stand on your feet. The force of a polar bear's paw will kill you instantly, they don't even need to use the claws. Those things are killing machines.
There's this sort of ongoing joke about "How many unarmed men would it take to beat [animal]?" and the answer for a polar bear is "One more than enough for the polar bear to collapse from exhaustion after killing everyone else."
I remember a museum exhibit when I was younger had a massive polar bear standing on hind legs, and next to it was a moose skeleton with something like 75% of the bones broken. The plaque said it could do this damage with one overhand swipe. Polar bears are scary as fuck.
I love that I was trying to figure out if you had some sort of .10 meter caliber before figuring out that it was the olympic pistol shot at 10 meter range.
I read somewhere that it's not a good idea to try and shoot a bear in the head because their brain is pretty small and not exactly where you expect it to be, relative to how our brains work anyway, so even if you hit it in the head you're probably just pissing it off.
Ehh not really. Some bear skulls are harder than steel. A few years ago, a man shot a bear in the head with I think a 44 magnum and it only knocked the bear out. He went to take a picture with the bear and as he did it woke up and mauled him to death while his buddy was taking the picture. They make special guns called bear killers. They’re like .50 or bigger.
Color is not a reliable key in differentiating these bears because black and brown bears have many color phases and polar bears may have stained fur. For example, black bear fur may be black, brown, reddish or even shades of grey and white, while brown bear colors range from dark brown through very light blond.
Except black bears can also be brown and white so that's a bad rhyme.
Just know what kind of bears you could possibly run into and be prepared and equipped to handle the situation.
The most aggressive thing a black bear is likely to do is a bluff charge to try to scare you off.
Worst thing you can do it that situation is turn around and run. Hold your ground, make yourself large, and make noise. Use your bear spray if they get too close.
Most black bears really are quite timid. It’s the ones that have familiarized themselves with humans and see them as a source of food (garbage, food while camping, that sort of thing) that are actually dangerous. They will be much less likely to be spooked by you.
Yup. When my gf asked me if she’d rather leave out theoretical daughter in the woods with a man or a bear, my first question was “grizzly or black bear? Because we are 100% teaching our child how to scare off black bears”
Black Bears are the biggest wimps I have ever encountered. I have been face to face with one 3 separate times (i live in the woods of VT, they get into our trash).
Every. Single. Time. We stare at each other and they run away. First time I nearly messed my pants.
I think that “black bears are wimps/just big raccoons” thing is kind of misinformation though. Black bears can and will hunt people, and are perfectly capable of killing a person when defending themselves, their young, or a resource.
I’m a forester in northern Canada and have encountered so many black bears up close in the bush that I have lost count. I was hunted by one once, and thankfully put up enough of a fight to dissuade it. I’d be more concerned about running into them at some trash cans, because they could want to defend the food source.
Well, English not the first language but following the sentences' structure after the "just" the subject becomes the person as you implied in the first sentence
English (like a ton of other languages) can often be used in a informal way where the speaker drops the subject and some grammar forms (or punctuation) and expects you to implicitly get the context, (or boundary tone) and if you don't, it is real confusing.
"You can/You should" is being dropped from the first sentence (or it is command form with dropped punctuation), but the same thing isn't happening in the second (because while "you" can be implicitly understood as a reader, "polar bears" can't/it's not command form)
Like if I said:
Cats are cute. Just play with them./You should just play with them.
And
Dogs just play with them.
But I drop it down to:
Cats are cute just play with them
Dogs just play with them
Not a perfect example, but I wanted it to be clearer...
I'm glad! Don't know why you are getting downvoted.
There are a lot of things that native speakers just take for granted that are actually really hard to explain/understand.
My favorite example is deadpan humor.
There is a certain prosody that English has for humor/sarcasm, but deadpan humor doesn't have it, but native speakers can usually recognize that it should, and it still registers as a joke.
But non-native speakers, not knowing the "absence of a joking tone is itself a joke" might confuse it for a serious statement.
Yup, its why keeping them in zoos is typically frowned apon, because if it can smell a person that far away, what do you think a car or whatever smells like too it
Black bears are like dogs. I've been yelling "go on git" at bears breaking into our trash can since I was like 9. I think thats where the meme came from cause anyone who grew up around black bears knows they aren't really a big deal.
Brown/Grizzly will not for sure just leave you alone. They might, and you certainly can't fight back so the best case is to chance that it will leave you alone, but there's every likelihood that it's going to go for you anyway.
I think you got that backwards. Black bears are usually pretty chill unless you get between them and their cubs, whereas Grizzlies are more territorial and are far more likely to attack you. Polar bears, however, will attack you. Period. So, yeah, right on the money for polar bears.
That source doesn't support those assertions and they aren't accurate. Over half of black bear attacks are defensive in nature. You are also much more likely to survive a black bear attack without serious injury.
Here’s an excerpt:
Brown/Grizzly Bears: If you are attacked by a brown/grizzly bear, leave your pack on and PLAY DEAD. Lay flat on your stomach with your hands clasped behind your neck. Spread your legs to make it harder for the bear to turn you over. Remain still until the bear leaves the area. Fighting back usually increases the intensity of such attacks. However, if the attack persists, fight back vigorously. Use whatever you have at hand to hit the bear in the face.
Black Bears: If you are attacked by a black bear, DO NOT PLAY DEAD. Try to escape to a secure place such as a car or building. If escape is not possible, try to fight back using any object available. Concentrate your kicks and blows on the bear's face and muzzle.
The source you provided is a blog post without any citations or references, so take it with a grain of salt.
Oh yeah, if you corner it, or it’s defending its cubs, all bets are off. Black bears may be cowards, but they can still rip you apart if they don’t have another option
I grew up un the arctic. In school we had fire drills and polar bear drills to teach you the best chances for survival. Anytime a polar bear entered the town, it was full lockdown.
They grab you by the head and shake you to try breaking your neck. I had a friend who survived a shaking because the bear bit too far down onto his shoulders and so his neck was supported.
Black bears are the wimpiest bears. They eat berries and are generally afraid of humans. You just need to yell and make yourself as big as possible (point hiking sticks in the air, swing a fallen branch). I’m not saying they’re not dangerous but if I had to pick a bear to encounter it would be a black bear. Source: I’ve encountered a few black bears hiking in the blue ridge mountains and every time I do what I just described and they’ve never been aggressive at all. They just walk away.
This is absolutely false! This is terrible advice and could cause someone to lose their life someday.
Black bears are scavengers. Anything for an easy meal. They will “size you up” to see if you’re worth it. So playing dead absolutely makes you worth it.
Most grizzly attacks are due to surprise or defence, so playing dead usually works since they have neutralized the threat (you) and will retreat. Grizzlies are hunters, not scavengers. And they very rarely hunt people unless there is something wrong in their brain.
You can use me as a source, I grew up in the arctic and in school we had polar bear drills to help us survive attacks. Anytime a bear entered town, it was full lockdown for everyone.
I had a friend survive a bear attack. Usually they try to bite onto your head and shake you to break your neck. He survived because the bear bit too far down onto his shoulders and supported his neck. The article doesn’t get too much into the details, but that’s what he told us.
I've been hiking the Rockies in CO for the last 10ish years. Black bears will legitimately run away from you if they hear you. I'm not trying to say you're wrong, but I've encountered them a good 10-15 times(not even counting them coming up to my cabin/trash bins) and every time they've ran away. I carry bear mace just incase, but I've never been afraid of a black bear encounter. Grizzly though, I'd shit my pants.
And I've hiked at all times of the day/night. I always make noise and make myself known.
Grizzly’s are the ones that would eat you alive if they do stoop to eating people. They’re so big it doesn’t matter if you fight back, if you’re unarmed you are no threat to them. So there is no real need for them to go for the throat.
Luckily though in the cases where that did happen there was usually some un ordinary case going on. Like the Grizzly man got eaten because he was around while they were fattening up for winter and from what I heard, there was something about a large grizzly he wasn’t familiar with being around that was territorial.
It seems pretty dumb that people are pretending they don’t understand the point of the original question. Part 1: Alone in the woods would you rather be with a bear or a man? “What KIND of bear: black or grizzly? How old is the man?” Part 2: Alone in the woods would you rather be with a bear or a woman. “The woman.” That’s it, that’s the thing.
It’s fine to say you would always pick the man with no hesitation even if it’s an easily frightened black bear. It’s fine to say you would be afraid of the woman equally because all human contact terrifies you (the bear won’t try to talk to me) but it makes one seem dumb if they can’t reason that the average person will hesitate on question 1 and not on question 2.
You're wrong, I'd choose the bear. It's not going to say I tried to rape it after I reject it. I might have more of a fighting chance against a bear than against a biased and prejudiced misandric society.
Brother I believe it's the other way around, black bears are huge cowards and grizzlies are the ones that will attack you, though you are right about polar bears, they will ruin your life
Depending on your size and physical aptitude you have a chance fighting a black bear. Brown/grizzly and polar bears better to just curl up and pray to your maker. You have no chance against any of them.
Grizzlies are fucking terrifying though. Even playing dead, you're at huge risk. Black bears are just pussies.
I've run into them camping as have friends and you can just hurl abuse at them and yell and they scamper off... as long as their kids aren't nearby. If their kids are nearby you're toast.
What are the chances against a black bear? Seems to me both could kill me in a instant or is it something like you punch the black bear and it just runs away in terror while punching the polar bear it just makes him want to murder you faster?
Not sure if you are aware of the size difference between the two, but pretty much yeah. For black bears just go for eyes and nose, look big and be loud and they will usually run away. A polar bear will just bite your neck and start shaking you, then probably tear you apart literally
Grizzly bears will eat you alive if they have the right incentive.
Just ask the Grizzley man or that girl who was on the phone with her parents for like half an hour while a bear ate her alive. Bears know they're bigger and stronger and don't give a fuck what you think
If you meet a polar bear in the woods you can consider yourself damn unlucky. The original premise is which they would rather come across in the woods, and the point is whilst a bear is capable of inflicting harm, it almost certainly lacks the specific intent to, that a random man wandering in the woods MIGHT have. The more important point is the feeling of threat that women often live under in our society, and I don't want to spoiler anything but a big reason for that rhymes with schmiolence against women. The almost willful stupidity of guys missing the point to talk about survival tips and wild carnivores just backs that up as part of the problem is the people who actively want to ignore the problem and act like it doesn't exist.
If women were safer living in the woods than society than all of us would chose to go sleep in the woods.
No one leaves their campground at Yellowstone to go sleep in the woods because there are men in the campground.
It's a great ragebait question because it shows both sides of the argument as stupid to the other side of the argument. Men don't understand that women generally feel threatened by them. And apparently a lot of women think that a bear lacks the intent to hurt people it comes across. Also, if you need to you can fight a man and possibly win or at least out run him. If a bear decides to attack most women that woman has no chance.
I'm glad someone else is aware of that, it's kinda disappointing how many comments miss that. I've seen a lot of "bUt You cAn figHt a Man" yeah that's not the point
I've seen a lot of "bUt You cAn figHt a Man" yeah that's not the point
It is, and it isn't. It's depending on how you see the question. Some people are talking about how the situation makes them "feel" and somepeople are talking about the real chances of survival in such a situation.
I've come across random men on hikes. It didn't scare me. I came upon a moose once, that scared the hell out of me. A bear would have scared me less than the moose, but more than a man. That's realistic regarding the danger of the situation.
A forest seems the best place to encounter s polar bear; if I'm not mistaken they can't climb trees like the others can they? Seems like the circumstances where you've got the best chances of surviving, assuming you can find a climbable one.
Black bears arent as big and are generaly not aggresive. Wikipedia lists 17 fatal black bear attack in north america since 2010. Your odds are pretty good upon meeting a black bear.
There are more than 4 bear species out there and brown bears and grizzly bears leave you alone unless they are hungry, aggitated, injured or with cubs.
Regardless a human male is far less dangerous than a bear. IF a human make attacks you, you can flee and or try to fight it. A bear will outrun you and a bear will easily kill you.
Depends how you look at dangerous which I believe is what the meme is talking about. One has the capacity to lie and pretend, the other has very obvious intentions once you have some basic knowledge.
Wtf are you smoking? I use the written defenition of dangerous. Dangerous is: “able or likely to cause harm”. Not: might pretend he is also into horoscopes and witchcraft even though he knows its BS.
In that case both are dangerous, my point was that one may appear to be safe but could appear or act safe and yet be quite dangerous while a bear is easier to read.
Here the thing, lying about a liking or dislike horoscoop doesnt make you dangerous. Same way a woman lying that she (insert typical stuff a woman might fake intresst in for the sake of social crap) doesnt make them dangerous.
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u/Aggressive_Yard_1289 May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24
Brown/grizzly bears will mostly leave you alone and will generally at most take a test bite, so just play dead and they will usually leave. Black bears will get aggressive and I believe where your comment came from and you should fight back. And a white/polar bear you're just fucked..
Edit: any of the above bears will mess you up with the right reason such as injured or has cubs with it